Beloved balladeer Mike Brady preparing for another AFL grand final performance after 45 years

Football's most beloved balladeer, Mike Brady, will perform at this weekend's AFL grand final, 45 years after he first sang on the league's biggest day.

"My first grand final was in 1979, Carlton vs Collingwood. It was a full house and it was like coming home" Brady tells ACA.

"I love it when I walk out, I get this feeling of warmth from the crowd".

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Brady, 76, is part of a premiership line-up of musicians who will take to the stage before the big match begins.

US pop queen Katy Perry is the headline act.

"I'm really looking forward to Katy Perry. She can really sing. She's earned her dues. I don't know whether I have earned my dues, I think I'm just a lucky boy" Brady reflects.

Christine Anu will perform her iconic version of My Island Home with her daughter, Zipporah Mary Corser, and Cody Simpson will sing the national anthem.

Brady's song Up There Cazaly, is the ultimate Aussie rules anthem.

The expression "up there Cazaly" was used by football supporters in the early 20th century to cheer on Swans champion Roy Cazaly.

It's also said that the phrase was used by Australian soldiers in World War II as a battle cry.

After migrating to Australia from England as a child, Brady was raised in the South Melbourne area and heard the saying often.

Brady wrote and released Up There Cazaly in 1979 and the song was, for a time, the highest selling Australian single.

"It was the biggest thrill in my life. I was a Pommie migrant in the 1950s and here I end up writing a song about a game I'd barely seen" says Brady.

Katy Perry has performed at the MCG before but this is her first time at the AFL grand final.

"I think (AFL) is a thread that weaves everyone together in Australia. I think this year's game is going to be evidence of that" Perry tells ACA.